Help centre
Straight answers about how embroidery digitizing works, and what to change when a stitch-out doesn't look right.
Turning artwork into instructions for an embroidery machine: every needle drop, in order, with the stitch type, angle, density, underlay, trims and colour changes. A picture file can't be stitched; a digitized file (DST, TAP, PES, EXP…) can.
Satin zig-zags across a narrow column (roughly 1–10 mm) and gives the shiny look of lettering and borders. Fill (tatami) covers large areas with rows of short stitches in a staggered pattern so it lies flat. Running stitches are a single line for outlines, fine detail and travel underneath other stitching. EasyDigitizer picks between them by the width of each part of your artwork, and you can change any object's stitch type.
Density is how close the rows of thread are. EasyDigitizer measures it between rows going the same direction — 0.40 mm is a standard satin and fill for 40 wt thread on most fabrics, which is what the garment presets start from. Go more open (0.45–0.5 mm) for small or thin columns and light fabrics, tighter only when coverage is poor. Too dense means stiff, bulletproof embroidery and thread breaks; too open shows fabric through.
Underlay is the stitching sewn first, under the visible stitches. It holds the fabric to the backing, lifts the top stitches so they don't sink in, and stops gaps. Narrow satins get a centre run, wider ones an edge run plus zig-zag, and fills an edge run plus a light tatami. "Auto" picks this for you by size.
Thread tension pulls fabric in across the direction of the stitches, so shapes sew narrower than drawn. Pull compensation widens each column a little to make up for it. Stretchy and soft fabrics (performance wear, fleece, knits) need more than twill caps or towels; the garment presets set it for you.
Stitch angle changes how light hits the thread and how the fabric pulls. Fills look best when neighbouring areas run at different angles; satins turn with the shape. At sharp corners a satin either mitres (sharp), turns in a smooth arc (rounded) or is cut flat (chamfered, also called a cap) so stitches don't pile up on one point. You can pick the corner style per object.
For clean logos with solid colours it gets close: density, satin spacing, underlay, locks and trims were calibrated against real production files and hand-digitized lettering. Detailed photos, gradients and tiny text still benefit from a person's judgement — which is why every object stays editable and the app includes hand-digitizing tools. Always sew a test piece before a production run.
A clean PNG, SVG or PDF with solid colours and sharp edges, at least about 1000 pixels across. Remove backgrounds, shadows and gradients first if you can. Blurry JPEGs and screenshots work, but you'll spend longer cleaning up colours and shapes.
Capital letters of about 4–5 mm (roughly 3/16″) are the practical minimum for satin lettering; below that the openings in letters like e and a fill in. The stitch fonts are digitized from 4 mm up. For tiny text inside a logo, delete the traced letters and re-type them with a stitch font — it sews much cleaner.
As many as your machine has needles — more means the operator re-threads mid-run. For logos, 2–6 thread colours is typical. The app reduces your artwork's colours and matches each to the nearest thread in your chosen brand's chart.
Yes, inside EasyDigitizer: resizing regenerates the stitches, so density stays right. Resizing an already-exported DST on the machine only stretches the existing stitches — fine for ±10–15 %, but beyond that columns get too thin or too dense. Resize in the app and export again.
Left chest about 3.5–4″ wide; cap fronts about 2.25″ tall by up to 4.5–5″ wide; full back up to about 12″ wide. Pick the garment on the start screen and the hoop and size limits are set for you.
A cap is stitched curved on a cap frame, so the design must sew from the centre out and from the bottom up, or the fabric shifts and the design wraps unevenly. Structured caps also have a buckram front and a centre seam that needs care. Choose your cap type on the start screen and the sequencing is handled automatically.
Cut-away for knits and anything stretchy (polos, tees, performance wear); tear-away for stable wovens, twill and caps; a water-soluble topping on towels and fleece so stitches don't sink into the pile. The production worksheet lists the suggested backing for your garment.
Use the towel or fleece preset: it adds a knockdown layer under the design to flatten the pile, and slightly heavier underlay. Add a soluble topping when you hoop.
DST works on almost every commercial machine (Tajima, Barudan, SWF, Ricoma, ZSK and more). TAP is for Happy machines, PES for Brother and Baby Lock, EXP for Melco and Bernina. Janome (JEF) and Viking/Pfaff (VP3) are on the way. Every export includes every format.
DST and TAP files only store colour changes, not the colours themselves, so the machine shows its own default colours. Assign needles at the machine using the colour list on the production worksheet (it lists thread codes for your chosen brand). PES files do carry colours.
Use Send to machine (Ctrl+Shift+S): save a profile for your machine, then send to a USB stick or a network / Wi-Fi folder your machine software watches. This needs Chrome or Edge; in other browsers the file downloads and you copy it across yourself.
Find what you're seeing on the sewn piece, then try the fixes in order — top ones first.
Yes. EasyDigitizer runs in Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Linux, iPad, iPhone and Android — there's nothing to install. On touch screens, pinch to zoom, drag with two fingers to move, tap to place points, long-press for a curve point, and double-tap (or tap Finish) to close a shape. On a phone, tap the open tab of the settings panel to fold it away. A bigger screen is still more comfortable for detailed hand digitizing, so many people auto-digitize and check on a tablet and fine-tune on a computer.
Writing straight to a USB stick or folder uses a browser feature that Chrome and Edge have and Safari and Firefox don't. Open the app in Chrome or Edge, or download the file and copy it across.
Each browser unlocks separately. Choose Already subscribed? and enter the phone number or email you used at checkout. If it still doesn't unlock, send us a message with that phone or email.
In your browser on this computer — nothing is uploaded. Use Save project to keep a .stitchcraft.json file you can open on another computer, and back up your exported stitch files.
Try reducing the number of colours, cleaning the artwork (remove backgrounds and shadows), or making it bigger. You can delete or redraw any object by hand. If a particular logo trips it up, please tell us — real examples are how the engine gets better.
